They’ve got the virus but nowhere to go
Infected travelers can’t stay at Travis, and SoCal city doesn’t want them
Coronavirus patients can’t stay at Travis Air Force Base, the federal government has announced.
But so far, there’s nowhere else for them to go.
On Saturday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Diamond Princess cruise ship passengers that everyone who tests positive for the virus must be moved from the Fairfield quarantine, even if they’re not sick.
“We need to move them for observation and care, and to make sure people are being medically evaluated and their needs met,” the CDC’s Peggy Honein said in a phone briefing with the 156 passengers at the base.
Because there aren’t enough beds in specialized Northern California hospitals, the federal plan was to send them 431 miles south to Costa Mesa’s 125-acre Fairview Developmental Center, a state-owned facility for people with mental disabilities, which
is now empty.
But the city’s leaders are blocking the move. Citing fears for residents’ health, they say they were blindsided by the federal plan.
“Our top priority is the safety and security of this community and those who live in this region,” Mayor Katrina Foley said in a statement. “We have received no information regarding how the facility will be prepared, what precautions will be taken to protect those in the facility as well as those who live nearby, and other planning measures.”
A federal judge Friday sided with the city, granting a temporary restraining order against the use of the facility. A hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. today.
Honein did not specify what other sites are under consideration for the move.
“There is a lot of planning going on to make sure hospitals are able to take them. As of right now, there are no specific transfer plans in place,” she said. “We will try to get people to the best facility for them.”
Meanwhile, some of the passengers are resisting a move and refusing to be
“We have seen clinical cases that do very well early in the disease and then rapidly deteriorate. This is another reason to make sure they are monitored and getting the care they need in a health care facility.”
— Peggy Honein of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
tested, saying they first want assurance that they won’t be moved. It’s safer to stay under their strict quarantine, they say.
“Shelter in place. There is no need to put asymptomatic people in the hospital,” said passenger Sarah Arana, who has not been tested and remains healthy. “We are surrounded by doctors and medical specialists. We have a 24/7 line we can call if we get sick or need medical attention of any kind. There are several ambulances standing by at all times if anyone needs transport.
“Relocating creates further exposure for transport and health care workers,” she added.
Already, 11 of the quarantined passengers have been transferred to hospitals outside Travis Air Force Base. Of these, seven stayed in Northern California hospitals and four went to Washington state hospitals, Honein said. Those passengers received positive results from a test conducted in Japan before their return to the U.S. and some are sick. Because the test takes time, the results of the Japanese testing are still trickling in.
In addition, five passengers with respiratory symptoms were transferred to Northern California hospitals for monitoring. One, cleared of coronavirus, has since returned to Travis.
Tests were conducted late last week to detect any new infections that were acquired during the evacuation of the ship and the flight to California, but results are not back yet.
More than half of the coronavirus cases outside China occurred onboard the Diamond Princess, the World Health Organization’s director general said last week.
Because so many passengers were exposed to the virus, they’re being treated differently than other travelers to China, who are simply staying home in “self isolation.”
“You were in a close setting where there was significant spread … and there is concern about high risk
of infection,” Honein said. “We do expect to see additional cases in your group and are working to ensure that each and every person is monitored to see if they develop illness.
“We have seen clinical cases that do very well early in the disease and then rapidly deteriorate,” she said. “This is another reason to make sure they are monitored and getting the care they need in a health care facility.”
The illness is believed to have a two- to 14-day incubation period between exposure and appearance of symptoms.
Some passengers who were quarantined on the ship for 12 days are frustrated that they may have been exposed to unnecessary risk during evacuation and travel back to the States.
Initially, the U.S. State Department told passengers they would not be evacuated with anyone who was infected or who showed symptoms.
But during the evacuation process, officials got bad news: New test results showed that 14 passengers who were believed to be healthy were, in fact, infected.
Top officials in Washington, D.C., debated their fate, according to The Washington Post. Should they be allowed to fly? Or
left behind in Japanese hospitals? They opted to include the infected people, separating them with a plastic tarp.
As they deliberated, the passengers were confined for hours in cramped seats on more than a dozen buses. After a long quarantine and confinement on the ship, they now sat shoulder to shoulder.
But the State Department rebuts the possibility that the new infections now appearing at Travis were acquired en route
“They represent infections prior to (medical) evaluation that are now coming to light,” Ian Brownlee of the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs said at a press briefing Friday. Because the Japanese tests were given 48 to 72 hours prior to evaluation and evacuation, the infections weren’t detected, he said.
In addition to the Travis cases, two passengers who were quarantined at Joint Base San AntonioLackland in Texas have since tested positive. Other passengers are being treated at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s quarantine unit in Omaha.
People who are sick need special care and special facilities. The Seattle hospital that treated one of the first cases enlisted its biohazard team, trained in the care of Ebola patients, to erect an isolation unit, according to the Seattle Times. They removed other patients and erected movable walls to create a room with negative pressure, so that no air could escape.
The coronavirus patient arrived in a mobile isolation pod, like the units that care for premature babies. He was first examined over a video call by a doctor in an adjacent room. Caregivers wore protective gowns, respirator helmets, plastic faceguards and double gloves. The man has since recovered and been released.
The results of the new tests — expected in the next several days — will guide the next steps, Honein said Saturday.
If someone initially tests positive, the patient is required to have two negative tests, separated by 24 hours, before being considered free of the disease.
But people who remain symptom-free for 14 days after their last day of known exposure can soon start planning their departure, Honein said. Starting March 2, buses will deliver them to Oakland, San Francisco and Sacramento airports.
“We know this is not your dream vacation any longer,” she said.